For the first time, I owe it to myself to let the universe talk about what I’m meant to be doing.

John Bell

“I had just been diagnosed with cancer,” says John Bell, when he received a phone call.

“Will you consider coming to Fletcher Building,” the caller asked. It was for the role of chief information officer.

At that time, Bell had spent over 30 years at Deloitte, 20 as partner and had worked across New Zealand, Australia, and Canada.

He was soon to undergo an operation for bowel cancer with no clarity of future prospects.

“Because I was pretty sick, for the first time, I had time to think,” he shares. “I have never been a CIO. However, I asked myself, what have I got to lose? I have all the right skills for the challenges they’re facing. Why not give it a go? So I went back and said, okay, if you want me, I will put myself forward.”

Bell was interviewed by members of the Executive as well as Fletcher Building chair Sir Ralph Norris and another member of the board of directors.

Bell reflects on this as he has just wrapped up his fourth year at Fletcher Building.

“I promised Robyne (my wife) I will do it for three years, but my whole premise was to develop people underneath me. So I went in there to lead the transformation, to engage people, and motivate them to grow.”

Their first stop is in Thailand, and then on to Antarctica and the United States, where they will also spend time with their daughter in Los Angeles and attend a conference on mid-century modernism architecture.

Then it is back to Thailand, where they own a vacation house, for a month before returning to Aotearoa.

Bell has been approached for other roles, but has not committed to any of them.

Leading and listening

The ICT function has a global remit, which, until the sale of Formica, involved staff looking after 39 companies in over 900 locations. “You can’t do it yourself.”

“It doesn't matter whether you are the smartest person in the world - and I am not - you have to get it done through people and that is why I put a huge focus on helping people develop and bring their best selves to work everyday.”

He stresses that, “I need people to be engaged. I need them to go the extra mile and not just be there doing the work simply to get paid. They have to do it because they want to do it, because they believe in the vision to transform the company.”

“That is the role I was able to play, to provide leadership to a fantastic team of people who all enrolled to make this transformation happen.”

“We put a programme in place to give everybody a brand-new device, so they never get more than four years old. Everyone would have a fit-for-purpose device, and they can do their job more efficiently and effectively.”

“Can you imagine being on a service desk call, with 200 PC types and 40 SOEs and an environment containing more than 14,000 applications? It’s not easy for our service teams confronting that degree of complexity.”

“And now, we are down to six device types and one operating environment,” says Bell. “That is just one of a whole range of transformation projects we have undertaken to deliver a fit-for-purpose technology environment.”

“I have learned along the way that good managers, good leaders, are always listening to what their people are saying. And they are not too quick to react. They take on board the facts, then they make a reasoned judgment.”

Credit: IDGRoger Wanless of AUT and John Bell of Fletcher Building at a CIO NZ roundtable discussion

Into the startup world

Bell discloses that he has invested in some start-ups such as Unleashed, an inventory management software, and Auror that helps retailers report, solve, and prevent shoplifting.

He says Auror is a Kiwi company that has developed software to help identify shoplifters and try to help catch or identify offenders before the crime happens. It is used by Kiwi retailers Briscoes, Farmers, and Z, as well as the NZ Police.

He is also involved in a healthcare company developed by an Australian medical doctor, whose research focused on preventing avoidable deaths in hospital.

Bell met the founder when they were both members of a running group in Melbourne. When the doctor told the members of the group about his work, they suggested, “Why don’t you build an app to solve this problem?”

True north

“We have set up one of the best IT teams in Australasia,” he says. “If you go to talk to our staff, they would say it is not because of me, but what we have collectively done – they believe in our vision.”

“Everything we do is based on integrity,” he stresses. “What is the true north? What is the right thing to do for our customers and for our staff? They know that is what we have done consistently from the day I arrived.”

“It has been about doing the right thing for people and it has created what I think is a healthy environment,” he points out. “We have had to move some staff, but we have done that with integrity as well.”

He adds that, “We are very lucky to be living in this time. We missed the war, we missed the depression. We live in a buoyant period in history and we live in New Zealand, which is so privileged.”

“We have so much, and now we have these exciting opportunities that we can hopefully leverage and use to better New Zealand. That is very exciting.”

“Because I had such a serious bout of cancer, I am very grateful for every day that I am given,” he relates.

“I am a huge believer in helping people optimise their health, their wealth, their wellbeing, to be able to deal with the pressure of the roller coaster life we live, but also to optimise themselves to be the best they can be.”

He also shares: “I get a huge deal of satisfaction in actually seeing people grow and develop and reach their potential and so that is another area that really excites me and possibly will be part of my future.

“I am expecting good things to happen. I have got a strong spiritual side and I know that there is a plan there.”

Bell concludes that, “For the first time, I owe it to myself to let the universe talk about what I’m meant to be doing. I am genuinely open to what it reveals.”

Copyright 2019 IDG Communications. ABN 14 001 592 650. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of IDG Communications is prohibited.